National site selectors size up Nashville

There's a quartet in Nashville this week and each member has the potential to bring hundreds or thousands of jobs to the area.

Four national site selectors addressed the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, the first of two days they'll be in town. The foursome sized up the city's pros and cons and gave a sense of how Nashville is stacking up compared to the competition across the country, and around the world.

"Nashville is one of the few other places I would live. It just feels good. It feels like home, and that's what I say to clients," said Chris Lloyd, a senior vice president at McGuireWoods Consulting (Lloyd is a longtime resident of Richmond, Va.).

"It's hard to find, particularly close-in, affordable land. Of course, that's a sign Nashville is a desirable place to live, but it's certainly a cost factor," Lloyd said.

Lloyd was echoing what Will Hearn had to say about air travel from Nashville. Hearn is senior vice president of the brokerage firm CBRE's business location arm.

"There are plenty of flights, but when compared to another market like Charlotte ... air access is a weakness, a limiter," Hearn said.

That's not to say Hearn, Lloyd and the others couldn't find anything nice to say about Nashville. Quite the opposite.

"The diversity you have here, in terms of industry, is intriguing. You don't have Detroit, where all your eggs are in one basket and then the bottom falls out of the basket," said Michelle Comerford, of Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Co. "And you feel the innovation vibe, the young energy."

The site selectors said Nashville is facing increasingly tough competition — globally, of course, and regionally too. The group identified Tampa, Charlotte, Austin and Jacksonville as among the cities on the rise today.

"It's obvious now which mid-size cities have reinvested in themselves. It's allowing them to compete for projects that they couldn't 10 years ago," said Hearn, of CBRE. "If a community is not taking care of its existing companies, they won't do well in recruiting."

Added Bob Hess, of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank: "You may think Nashville is low-cost. There are other low-cost options out there, too. So you need to plan to take care of your existing industries."

After the morning chamber event, the four site selectors spent a couple of hours behind closed doors with regional economic development leaders — giving a more in-depth report card on Nashville.

The site selectors will also address Thursday's meeting of the local chapter of NAIOP, a commercial real estate trade group.

National site selectors size up Nashville

There's a quartet in Nashville this week and each member has the potential to bring hundreds or thousands of jobs to the area.

Four national site selectors addressed the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, the first of two days they'll be in town. The foursome sized up the city's pros and cons and gave a sense of how Nashville is stacking up compared to the competition across the country, and around the world.

"Nashville is one of the few other places I would live. It just feels good. It feels like home, and that's what I say to clients," said Chris Lloyd, a senior vice president at McGuireWoods Consulting (Lloyd is a longtime resident of Richmond, Va.).

"It's hard to find, particularly close-in, affordable land. Of course, that's a sign Nashville is a desirable place to live, but it's certainly a cost factor," Lloyd said.

Lloyd was echoing what Will Hearn had to say about air travel from Nashville. Hearn is senior vice president of the brokerage firm CBRE's business location arm.

"There are plenty of flights, but when compared to another market like Charlotte ... air access is a weakness, a limiter," Hearn said.

That's not to say Hearn, Lloyd and the others couldn't find anything nice to say about Nashville. Quite the opposite.

"The diversity you have here, in terms of industry, is intriguing. You don't have Detroit, where all your eggs are in one basket and then the bottom falls out of the basket," said Michelle Comerford, of Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Co. "And you feel the innovation vibe, the young energy."

The site selectors said Nashville is facing increasingly tough competition — globally, of course, and regionally too. The group identified Tampa, Charlotte, Austin and Jacksonville as among the cities on the rise today.

"It's obvious now which mid-size cities have reinvested in themselves. It's allowing them to compete for projects that they couldn't 10 years ago," said Hearn, of CBRE. "If a community is not taking care of its existing companies, they won't do well in recruiting."

Added Bob Hess, of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank: "You may think Nashville is low-cost. There are other low-cost options out there, too. So you need to plan to take care of your existing industries."

After the morning chamber event, the four site selectors spent a couple of hours behind closed doors with regional economic development leaders — giving a more in-depth report card on Nashville.

The site selectors will also address Thursday's meeting of the local chapter of NAIOP, a commercial real estate trade group.